Donald Trump on Foreign Policy

As international communication becomes simpler and simpler, foreign policy becomes more and more important. For this reason, it is an issue that is carefully considered when looking at potential candidates for the presidency. Donald Trump is dominating the news as we approach the 2016 election. However, few people know the exact details of Trump’s proposed policies. Instead, they have a vague idea of what he plans to do. Where exactly does Trump stand on foreign policy? He is supportive of Israel and stands against furthering relations with China. His views on Russia are twofold-he believes in supporting them, but with some stipulations. He hopes to strengthen human rights initiatives, and to have the United States as a whole take a stronger stance when making deals with foreign powers. He also believes that we should eliminate all nuclear discussions. While many people oppose many of Trump’s policies, many agree with Donald Trump on Foreign Policy.

Trump believes that in a Post-Cold War world, America needs a dealmaker in the White House more than it needs a strategist. Trump elaborates, stating “A dealmaker can keep many balls in the air, weigh the competing interests of other nations, and above all, constantly put America’s best interests first. The dealmaker knows when to be tough and when to back off. He knows when to bluff and he knows when to threaten, understanding that you threaten only when prepared to carry out the threat. The dealmaker is cunning, secretive, focused, and never settles for less than he wants. It’s been a long time since America had a president like that.” He describes the accomplishments of the only two dealmakers to ever sit in the White House and how they served America during times of crisis. He explains that “one was Franklin Roosevelt, who got us through WWII, and the other was Richard Nixon, who forced the Russians to the bargaining table to achieve the first meaningful reductions in nuclear arms.” Now, Trump believes that America needs a dealmaker once again, and points out that he was not focused on politics until recent years because he “was busy making deals during the last decade of the cold war.”

Donald Trump on Iran and Israel

Trump adamantly believes that the Obama administration is mishandling negotiations with Iran. He believes that they “should have walked away from the table once Tehran reportedly rejected the idea of sending enriched uranium to Russia.” At this point, Trump would have cut off all nuclear talks with Iran. However, he does not wish to discard the current nuclear agreement between Iran and other world powers. Despite calling it a “bad deal,” and stating that he believes it could lead to a nuclear holocaust, Trump stated that he would “police” the agreement rather than discarding it. He stated that he would personally need to do the policing, and called Secretary of State John Kerry “incompetent” for negotiating the agreement. In order to improve this situation, Trump has proposed increasing sanctions on Iran. Trump also believes that the Obama administration isn’t addressing relations with Israel appropriately. He supports stronger and better relations with Israel, including calling for a closer alliance with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Donald Trump on China

Trump is adamantly opposed to continuing relations with China. He believes that China is losing us billions of dollars. In his book Time To Get Tough, Trump states “China is bilking us for hundreds of billions of dollars by manipulating and devaluing its currency.” He believes that the government is intentionally giving the public a false impression of relations with China, stating, “Despite all the happy talk in Washington, the Chinese leaders are not our friends. I’ve been criticized for calling them our enemy. But what else do you call the people who are destroying your children’s and grandchildren’s future? What name would you prefer me to use for the people who are hell bent on bankrupting our nation, stealing our jobs, who spy on us to steal our technology, who are undermining our currency, and who are ruining our way of life? To my mind, that’s an enemy.” He believes that the only way to overcome this issue is to elect a president that will get tough with China. It is a game of negotiations to him, and we need a leader who can out-negotiate China. He believes that this is the only way to restore the wealth and power that America once possessed.

Trump fears that China will be able to overtake America as the largest world economy. He cites the large number of jobs being outsourced to China as a primary reason for this concern. At the current pace, Trump fears that China could overtake the United States by 2027. However, this could happen much sooner if the presidential administrations do not start taking proper precautions. He states that, without action, the “economic tsunami that is the People’s Republic of China” will “engulf” the U.S. by 2016.

Another reason Trump is in favor of breaking ties with China is the mistreatment of Chinese citizens by the government. This is a conflict of interest, Trump observes, because “These oppressive policies make it clear that China’s current government has contempt for our way of life.” He goes on to say that, while there may currently be an abundance of consumers in China, how long will the market last there under such an oppressive regime? To negotiate trade with a country that may not want and cannot afford American goods, Trump explains, is to compromise the principles of American trade. The only way to create an agreeable trade system with China, Trump believes, is “to make it absolutely clear that we’re willing to trade with China, but not to trade away our principles, and that under no circumstances will we keep our markets open to countries that steal from us.” Efforts to change China are futile. Instead, we should focus on trade agreements that make it abundantly clear that we are not willing to change, either.

Donald Trump on Russia

Trump agrees with supporting Russia, but only if certain requirements are met on Russia’s part. He feels that policymakers are often too timid in dealing with Russia, especially regarding matters that are essential to national security. He states that Kosovo is a perfect example of this. When Russia was asking for billions of dollars in loans and had already received billions in aid, they were also threatening the U.S. and giving out warnings regarding our actions in the Balkans. Trump believes that we need to be less lenient. We must not allow those that we are helping to criticize us. He states that they need us more than we need them, and we must use that situation to our advantage. This philosophy, Trump explains, is not just applicable to Russia. He states, “Ultimately we have to deal with hostile nations in the only language they know: unshrinking conviction and the military power to back it up if need be. There and in that order are America’s two greatest assets in foreign affairs.”

Donald Trump on the Middle East

Trump has stated that he supports the use of U.S. ground troops to fight ISIS in the Middle East. He believes that only U.S. troops are strong enough and skilled enough to bring down the organization, and that ground troops are needed to achieve the defeat of ISIS. Trump told MSNBC, “I would knock out the source of their wealth, the primary sources of their wealth, which is oil. And in order to do that, you would have to put boots on the ground. I would knock the hell out of them, but I’d put a ring around it and I’d take the oil for our country.” Trump also believes that this can only be accomplished by finding the strongest ground troops out there to send in, stating, “I would hit them so hard. I would find you a proper general, I would find the Patton or MacArthur. I would hit them so hard your head would spin.” Trump’s plans for the Middle East also include targeting the money they have in the American banking system. At first, Trump did not reveal whether he meant that he wanted to put ground troops in to fight in the Middle East. He stated that discussing the exact plan with the media would lead to ISIS knowing what his intentions were if he won the presidential election and actually moved to implement the plans. However, his comments have seemed to tend towards putting American boots on the ground.